1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a heat pump system, an operation procedure therefor and an evaporator system.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the field of use of a heat pump technology and of VRC (vapor re-compression) technology, wasted heat from factories, power generation equipment or the like has been recently recovered by a heat pump to achieve energy saving. In addition, VRC technology has been used in industrial drying processes to significantly reduce energy required for drying.
There are various types of heat pumps and of VRC systems. The following system is conceivable. Feed-water is changed into working steam for the system by an evaporator. Furthermore, for the sake of further achievement of energy saving by reducing compression power, water is sprayed upstream of or downstream of a compressor to cool the working steam.
Examples of water supplied to the heat pumps or to the VRC systems include tap water, industrial water, and factory-discharged heated water. It is conceivable that such feed-water is converted into purified water by using a water purifier in order to avoid erosion or contamination of compression equipment such as a centrifugal compressor included in the system or to extend the life of a water spray nozzle.
However, there is a problem as below. Although the approximate half of water supplied to the water purifier is converted into purified water, the remaining half of the water is discharged as discharged water from the water purifier.
For example, JP-A-9-248571 discloses the technology of effectively utilizing discharged water from the water purifier. Specifically, the discharged water is mixed with raw water of the water purifier and the mixed water is used as raw water.
The technology described in JP-A-9-248571 restores the discharged water of the water purifier to raw water for reuse. However, since recirculation of the discharged water causes contaminations to be concentrated in water, effective utilization efficiency is not so high.